Santorum’s Partisan Take on Obama’s Iran Policy

Nearly 5 months ago, when Rick Santorum was still competitive in the race for the Republican nomination, he accused President Barack Obama of being too soft on Iran. Indeed, he went so far as to say that Obama was encouraging Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. Speaking about President Obama to CNN, Santorum said, “this is a president who is not standing by our allies, is trying to appease, trying to find a way to allow—clearly to allow Iran to get this nuclear weapon.”

Yesterday, Eli Clifton of ThinkProgress quoted Santorum saying something quite remarkable: he suggested that President Obama might do anything to present a compelling October surprise that would win him the election. Asked if attacking Iran was possibly such a surprise, Santorum said “I don’t know…It would not surprise me that this president would do anything to let the country know that he’s on the watch and that he is a vital player in keeping us safe.”

So there you have it: Obama is so weak on the question of Iran that he’s practically encouraging them to develop nuclear weapons, yet so opportunistic and desperate to win the upcoming election that he just might bomb Iran. While this may be a bit of an extreme case, it really highlights how the addiction to partisan sniping has become so imbedded into our political culture that politicians can no longer keep track of what they’re saying. On the plus side, frequent political self-contradictions provide The Daily Show with Jon Stewart with additional material to make it all the more funny.